The invention generally relates to an axial compressor, in particular for a gas turbine. More preferably, it relates to a compressor including, a compressor inlet and a compressor outlet and including a flow duct which is arranged between the compressor inlet and the compressor outlet. The flow duct can be enclosed by a compressor casing and in which guide blades and rotor blades are arranged. It also generally relates to a method of cleaning such an axial compressor.
A method of cleaning a gas turbine compressor is known from U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,235. As a rule, compressors of the axial type are employed for gas turbines. In such axial compressors, sequential rotor blade rings and guide blade rings are arranged in a flow duct. Air is highly compressed from the compressor inlet to the compressor outlet. This compressor air is then fed to a combustion chamber of the gas turbine where, together with fuel, it is burnt. The hot exhaust gases are guided through the turbine part, where they put a rotor into rotation by way of turbine blading. The rotational energy made available by the rotor also drives the compressor which is, as a rule, located on the same rotor.
The compressor of a gas turbine consumes a major part of the work performed by the turbine. The efficiency of the compressor is therefore of major importance to the overall efficiency of the gas turbine. It is the aerodynamic conditions in the flow duct of the compressor, in particular, which are responsible for the efficiency. These aerodynamic conditions are impaired by deposits on the compressor blading. Such deposits arise due to dirt particles in the induced air. The air is therefore usually filtered before entry into the compressor. With time, however, deposits are nevertheless caused by micro-particles which cannot be filtered out, and these deposits must then be washed off. For complete compressor cleaning, such washing demands greatly reduced operation of the compressor, which is not acceptablexe2x80x94particularly in the case of stationary gas turbines which are employed for the generation of energy. A cleaning fluid, for example distilled water, is added to the compressor inlet air for the washing process.
In order to maintain the compressor operation, it would be desirable to carry out xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d washing, i.e. washing of the compressor blading during compressor operation with, however, a certain reduction in power. Because of the strong increase in temperature of the compressor air caused by the compression, however, the added cleaning fluid evaporates so rapidly that rear rows of blading in the flow duct can no longer be washed. The method of U.S. Pat. No. 4,808,235 reduces this problem in the case of gas turbine aircraft engines by employing a cleaning fluid with a relatively high boiling point. The intention is also to achieve a low freezing point in order to avoid icing during flight operation.
A method and an appliance for cleaning air before entry into the compressor is known from EP 0 350 272B1. After an air filtration process and before entry into the compressor, the airflow is made uniform by way of a blading arrangement. It is subsequently nebulized with water and is then sprinkled with a coalescing medium. Finally, the air is dried.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,930,990 describes a method and an appliance for increasing the power of a gas turbine. Water is injected, before the compressor inlet, into the air induced by the compressor. The water evaporates in the compressor and, by this, cools the compressor air. The compressor power is reduced by this intermediate cooling, by means of latent heat, and the gas turbine power is therefore increased.
The invention is based on the object of providing an axial compressor. More preferably, it is directed to providing one in which xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d washing is also possible for compressor blading rows located further back in the flow duct. In addition, in one embodiment, the intention is to provide a particularly suitable cleaning method for an axial compressor.
An object is achieved by providing an axial compressor. A nozzle for injecting a cleaning fluid can be arranged in the flow duct in such a way that cleaning of at least some of the guide blades and rotor blades takes place by the injection of the cleaning fluid.
It is possible to introduce cleaning fluid into the flow duct downstream of the compressor inlet also during the compressor operation by using the nozzle located in the flow duct of the axial compressor, or also by using a plurality of such nozzles. By this, rear blading rows also can be efficiently cleaned in an xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d washing operation.
The nozzle can be arranged between two adjacent guide blades and/or between a guide blade and a rotor blade. Guide blades are adjacent to one another in the peripheral direction in a guide blade ring. Injection between two such guide blades can be realized with comparatively simple apparatus.
The nozzle can also be located in a guide blade. As an example, the guide blade can have a hollow configuration so that the cleaning fluid is guided within the guide blade. In particular, this provides the advantage that the cleaning fluid can be injected into the flow duct at a defined radial height or distributed over the complete radial height.
The nozzle can, in addition, be located in the compressor casing or can, however, be placed at a distance from the compressor casing by using a lance leading through the compressor casing. In a preferred embodiment, the lance can then be radially traversed. This provides, on the one hand, the advantage of a variable radial height for the injection of the cleaning fluid. The nozzle can, for example, be traversed over the complete height of the flow duct during the injection, by which subsequent blading can be efficiently cleaned over its complete height. In addition, this provides the advantage that the nozzle can be completely retracted from the flow duct after a cleaning operation. This avoids aerodynamic impairment due to the nozzle.
If the nozzle is arranged on the compressor casing, this provides a possibility, which is favorable from the point of view of the apparatus required, of supplying the cleaning fluid to the nozzle from outside and through the compressor casing. It is expedient to locate the nozzle radially above a rotor blade. By this, a complete rotor blade ring, which rotates past the nozzle during operation, can be cleaned in a targeted manner.
The axial compressor is preferably designed for a gas turbine, in particular for a stationary gas turbine. Particularly in the case of stationary gas turbines of large power, such as are employed for the generation of electrical energy in power stations, an outage period because of compressor cleaning is extremely undesirable. On the other hand, high efficiencies are very important, precisely for such gas turbines, so that a deterioration of efficiency due to dirt on the compressor blading is also unacceptable. Efficient xe2x80x9con-linexe2x80x9d washing of the compressor is therefore of particularly great importance in this case. In the case of the stationary gas turbines of high power, it is known that dirt depositions cause sacrifices in efficiency, precisely in the case of the rear blading rows, because particularly high flow Reynolds numbers are present in this region.
An object is further achieved by providing a method of cleaning an axial compressor. A cleaning fluid can be injected into the flow duct at an injection position behind the compressor inlet, in the flow direction, after a first row of guide blades and before the compressor outlet during the compressor operation, in such a way that at least some of the guide blades and rotor blades are cleaned by the cleaning fluid.